


A Fleeting Fantasy

by wayward_s



Series: Seijoh Week 2020! [1]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Royalty, Day 1: First Years/Royalty AU, Flash Fiction, Fluff, Gen, Kindaichi Admit You Love Kunimi Challenge, Knight!Kindaichi, Kunimi is a Little Shit, M/M, Present Tense, Prince!Kunimi, Running Away, Seijoh Week 2020, Third Person POV, i have no idea how to tag shorter works someone help
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-30
Updated: 2020-08-30
Packaged: 2021-03-06 16:55:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,962
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26172325
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wayward_s/pseuds/wayward_s
Summary: Perhaps, he thinks, the Prince's plan was always a lost cause. That indulging in his desire was a mistake.But Yuutarou shakes that doubt from his mind as quickly as it appears.It couldn’t have been.Not when Akira’s apathy finally gave way to somethingwarmer.
Relationships: Kindaichi Yuutarou & Kunimi Akira, Kindaichi Yuutarou/Kunimi Akira
Series: Seijoh Week 2020! [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1903042
Comments: 4
Kudos: 34
Collections: Seijoh Week 2020





	A Fleeting Fantasy

The courtyard is quiet as Yuutarou patrols, hand resting idly on the hilt of his sword as it hangs from his hip. The only people around in the waning afternoon are handmaids for the Empress Consort or another knight standing guard at their post. They exchange courteous nods, but it doesn’t take much to discern that the dread Yuutarou feels tightening around his throat is the exact same that lingers behind his coworker’s eyes. 

There’s a heavy thud of a door in the distance, followed by a yell and curse. Yuutarou pauses, grip tightening on the hilt of his sword as he waits for a sign to move. In his peripherals, he catches a few other knights doing the same. 

There’s half beat of nothing before someone runs out from a door that connects the courtyard to one of the main hallways of the palace. A handmaid. She waves a hand, a silent sign that as is well, before retreating back inside. 

The tension eases. But only for a moment.

Yuutarou grits his teeth, all before rolling his shoulders back and continuing through his route. His boots crunch against the loose gravel of the path beneath him as he slips into the denser part of the garden, eyes darting at shifting shadows as he weaves through the rows of topiary hedges. The grip on his sword never wavers as he weaves - slowly, cautious.

It’s overkill and cumbersome, but uneasiness is contagious, and it’s started to take its toll on everyone.

Including himself. 

The Emperor’s health had taken a turn for the worst in recent days. Though the royal physicians kept their heads down, it was clear to anyone with a pair of eyes things were reaching dire straits as time wore on. 

Rumours swirled around the palace and its staff first, mere whispers passing down overhead concerns from the inner circle of the Imperial Council. But news spreads quickly, and on one of his patrols through the marketplace he caught wind of the townsfolk and their own versions of the gossip.

Not long after, the Royal Guard of Blue Castle was put on high alert to ensure the safety of the ailing monarch while the Imperial Court dealt with the situation at hand. 

Last he heard, the plan was centred around the Emperor and Empress Consort abdicating the throne by month’s end, leaving the Crown Prince to ascend and rule in his father’s stead. The nation currently existed in a tentative period of change, with emerging tensions and shifting power balances on both a domestic and international level. And such, having a sensible,  _ healthy _ figurehead would do the country wonders. 

The plan was, for all intents and purposes, simple. Straight-forward. A logical solution to a very pressing issue.

But the question that ran through the palace staff, however, was  _ which  _ Crown Prince would ascend the throne.

The eldest, Crown Prince Hideoi, was the most logical and predictable option. He was the most beloved of the sons and had both age and expertise under his belt. Close behind him was second son Eiji, whose tenacity was strong enough to instill fear and awe into those he crossed paths. 

Irregardless of who came to rule, the Imperial Court was certain that the nation would be left in good hands. 

But therein lay the issue.

They weren’t sure which son would  _ physically _ come first.

Both Crown Princes were away for foreign affairs. Hideoi and his wife were acting as diplomatic ambassadors for their foreign neighbours in an attempt to secure new trade routes and thereby strengthen the country’s international relations. Eiji was also abroad, travelling under the pretence of a peacekeeping meeting alongside Commander General Oikawa. 

The only son left within the palace walls was Crown Prince Akira, youngest son of the Emperor and Empress Consort.

If Yuutarou were a lesser man, he wouldn’t have cared all that much.

But he did care. 

_ Had to _ , really. 

Yuutarou clicks his tongue as he steps back out of the garden and on the main path once more, the faint reminder of a conversation gone by lingering in his mind. 

Akira didn't want to be Emperor. 

Or to be royalty in general. 

The admission came during one of the rare instances Yuutarou was stationed outside of the Prince's bedroom, late into the evening when the rest of the world turned their backs on them. 

"Life beyond the Palace is difficult," Yuutarou remembers saying, almost chiding as he watched the young Prince lay across his four poster bed. 

"Life in its entirety is difficult, Sir Kindaichi." Akira quipped back. "But is it not in the right of man to follow what will make them happy in spite of the adversity before them?"

Yuutarou couldn't deny that fact. After all, he chose to move from the countryside and live in the city in hopes to have something better for himself.

And as his shift as guard went on, so did Akira's aspirations and plans. 

He'd put in a formal request with his father to remove himself from the Imperial Family after Hideoi returned. And if they didn't let him then he'd run, disguise himself under the guise of nightfall just like that night and pray they never found him. 

("You'll help me, no?" Akira's bored expression never gave way throughout his planning, but Yuutarou  _ knew  _ that there was a hopefulness lingering beneath his request. "You're the only one who listens anyway, it only makes sense.

And again, who was he to deny him the happiness he was so eager to chase.)

But as fortune would have it, the Emperor fell ill, and whatever action Akira wanted to take was placed aside for the duty he didn't want. 

Perhaps, he thinks, the Prince's plan was always a lost cause. That indulging in his desire was a mistake. 

But Yuutarou shakes that doubt from his mind as quickly as it appears.

It couldn’t have been. 

Not when Akira’s apathy finally gave way to something  _ warmer _ .

The knight pauses for a moment. The wind brushes against his neck. 

Yuutarou  _ feels  _ the Prince’s gaze on him before he ever gets called out to. Releasing his grip on his sword he turns, instinctively, to his left and stares up, back against the setting sun. 

The balcony is above him, bathed in the golden light of the afternoon. But Akira is there, forearms pressed into the stone of the barrier while his upper body practically hangs over the edge. 

Yuutarou turns on his heel to completely face the balcony, right arm crossing over his abdomen as he dips into a polite bow. He never lowers his head, instead keeping his eyes trained on the Crown Prince.

He's dressed a little more formally - most likely having been cooped up with the Council for most of the day. There's a faint sign of fatigue across his features, and Yuutarou has to blink to make sure that he didn't imagine it ebbing away. 

Akira’s brows shift ever so slightly.

The Prince turns away for a moment, quickly facing the knight once more. One arm still held up his body against the barrier, the other held up a rectangle-

An envelope, with the waxen seal of the Kunimi family sealing it shut. Yuutarou squinted. The blue seals were only used for formal summons or pressing requests from the court. 

The knight furrows his brow as he stands back to his full height. The silent question is clear on his lips. 

Akira graces him with an answer. He releases his grip on the letter just as a sharp gust of wind rushes past them, picking up the paper and forcing it to flutter away from the balcony.

The panic is instinctual as the envelope loops toward him, hands clambering to snag the item from the air. The wind continued to swirl, as though it was alive and wanted to make chase of the already tiring knight. 

He flounders, barely snagging the corner after completing half a lap around the courtyard. 

But the victory is short-lived when Yuutarou loses his footing against the cobblestone and tumbles into the large stone fountain in the centre of the courtyard. 

He keeps the hand holding the letter in the air, all at the cost of his body collapsing into the cold water. His sword clangs against the bottom of the fountain, and one of the lily pads sticks to his chest as he blinks in disbelief. 

For a moment there's nothing but the sound of the disturbed water settling around him, and maybe a distant snort of amusement. 

“Kindaichi!”

_ Oh fuck- _

Yuutarou is scrambling out of the water feature as soon as he registers the figure approaching him, hus uniform dripping and leaving a trail as he rushes to make himself look vaguely presentable in the presence of-

“C-Captain Iwaizumi, sir!”

Yuutarou barely straps his sword to his belt before he is staring into the verdant eyes of the Captain of the Guard. He swallows involuntarily at the tension in the air, offering a quick salute before standing at ease. 

Iwaizumi gives him a once over all before folding his arms over his chest. 

“Wanna explain why you were lying in the  _ fountain _ ?”

Yuutarou bites his tongue, clamping down with enough force to make it bleed while he wrangles the sentence  _ “Akira Kunimi is an asshole”  _ from where it sits in the back of his throat.

Instead, he holds his hand out, index finger and thumb holding the sealed (miraculously dry) envelope he caught out to the Captain of 

“The Crown Prince accidentally let this get swept up in the wind. I didn’t want it to get wet in case it had vital information, sir.”

Iwaizumi’s eyes narrow as he stares at the blue seal that keeps the envelope shut. A second passes before the Captain lets his gaze focus on the current heir apparent looming above them. 

Akira is still leaning against the balcony as he stares back at his Royal Guard. He says nothing, only offering a curt wave and a single point to the envelope being held by the younger man.

The elation of seeing Yuutarou  _ drenched _ is clear on his face. It burns brighter than the golden hour light he’s wading in. 

Yuutarou forces himself to turn away. He doesn't want to burn. 

For the first time in his entire service, Yuutarou hears Iwaizumi  _ chuckle _ . 

If it weren’t for the brief slip in his expression, Yuutarou would have thought he was imagining the reaction.

But it's gone as quickly as it came, vanishing as the Captain shook his head at them. 

“Go dry off.” Without tearing his gaze away from the prince, he swipes the envelope from Yuutarou’s hand. “ _ I’ll _ deliver this to His Highness. You're free from the rest of your patrol for the evening."

Yuutarou fights the frown off his face and instead nods, offering another salute before hurrying past his superior officer. 

Iwaizumi claps a hand on his shoulder, stopping him mid-stride. 

“Use the path through the training grounds if you don’t want Matsukawa to get a word in about this.

Yuutarou feels the blood drain away from his face. 

He doesn’t need to look back at his superior officer to know that he’s being laughed at. Not when he can see Iwaizumi’s silhouette shaking as he retreats to the barracks. Not when he knows that it’s  _ Akira’s _ laughter dancing through the wind to sing in tune with Captain Iwaizumi. 

And with the rest of the night off, Yuutarou knows he's lost the chance to catch up with the Prince. 

Which is fine, maybe.

As he rounds the corner, he looks back quickly, no longer able to see the two people he left behind. 

He'll just have to be smart about how he sneaks in later that evening. 

**Author's Note:**

> SEIJOH NATION RISE!!
> 
> This is my first time participating in an event so I hope you all don't mind me taking a bit of a break from my other works to relax. I'll be back to my regular schedule after Seijoh Week is over.
> 
> Come say hi to me on twitter [here](https://twitter.com/waywards_)! I always love new friends.


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